Bleach: The Completed Hollow Saga
by Oreichalcos
Summary: Strange, hollows without holes are emerging. They are being controlled, and Ichigo and company must go back into Hueco Mundo to find their puppetmaster and destroy it. Chapter 4 is up! Uryu reveals a secret and Gaijuta is Revealed!
1. The Entry

**Bleach: The Completed Hollow Saga **

**Summary: The battle in Hueco Mundo ended in a draw. Aizen is amassing greater forces, and Soul Society is doing likewise. But when strange hollows without holes start appearing and wreaking havoc on ****both sides****, Ichigo and company must venture back into the realm of the Hollows...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I did, this fic would be part of the series. And I would have more pressure on me to finish stuff.**

**The Start**

**(Just so you know, the beginning will stink.**** I've ****focused mostly on the climax, and I can't write anything that will do it justice.)**

"So," Ichigo groaned, looking sleep-deprived. "What the HELL are we doing back here?"

The question wasn't exactly refined, but it worked. It had been just over a week since the infamous battle against Aizen. The party, including Nel Tu and Kenpachi, were all assembled in what Ichigo had dubbed "The Hat-And-Clogs Doom Cave". In other words, they were under Urahara Shoten. The only change about the place is that the shop had actually started selling candy. Which was a disaster at first: hundreds of people died from accidentally eating Soul Candy and a Gillian had eaten most of them. But that was mostly sorted out now. Or at least that was what Urahara told everyone.

"That's not what I asked." Ichigo growled. "I want to know why we have to go back there."

"Oh, you were unconscious, weren't you", Rangiku said out loud. She was replacing Orihime on this trip. They decided to keep her in a safe place while they were gone. Strangely enough, this place was Tessai's closet. "The R&D department found the source of those "filled" hollows. They seem to have a base in Hueco Mundo. We have to get in and take them out."

Everyone knew that this was serious. These new hollows were like puppets. Once they emerged, they completed their task. Even if they were destroyed in the process. When these hollows got their souls handed to them, a small bit of energy flew out of them. This was theorized to be what controlled them, but nobody knew what it was. The only thing that seemed to destroy a small amount of it was one of Uryu's Quincy arrows.

"'Kay then, is everyone here?", Urahara asked.

"Hey, I didn't get my question answered yet!" , a pissed-off Ichigo yelled.

"Too bad!" :D

Ichigo, Sado, Nel, and Kenpachi were all going. Uryu was the only Quincy on hand, so he had to go too. They also managed to force blackmail convince Renji and Ikkaku to come on this trip. In exchange, Soul Society demanded that Rukia return to normal duties. Altogether, they had 7 warriors, which Urahara said was lucky. So lucky that he shouldn't join them and mess up the luck.

"Now, is everyone happy?"

"Hell no" rang through the training grounds. Except for Nel. She had Ichigo, so she was fine.

"Too bad", the storekeeper responded cheerfully. "Now step in." As he said that, a garganta appeared next to him. He focused for a second, and the dimensional energy solidified into a pathway. "This _garganta_ will take you directly to the source. Or rather, where the R&D people think it is. Mayuri is a bright fellow, but even he makes mistakes sometimes. So prepare to walk for a while."

"Hey, how did you learn to do this?" Kenpachi asked.

"Do what?" Kisuke asked.

"Y'know, the hollow rip-in-air thing"

Before he could have his question answered, the clog-wearing candy merchant pushed them all into the cavity between the worlds.

"...so, how CAN you do that, sir?" an inquisitive Tessai asked.

"Do you see my sandals?" Urahara asked. He then shattered them and vaporized the smooth finish with his spiritual pressure. "Make better ones with just the fragments of this pair, and I'll tell you."

"Yes sir!" Tessai grabbed the wood and started to fix the sandals. As he walked away, a hiding Jinta distinctly heard Kisuke mumble "Speaking of that, I need to learn how to repel female hollows. I wonder whether that Mayuri kid could help. He sounds like a nice guy..."

**So, what do you think? This will get much better in a few chapters****, because I am better at writing fight scenes that this stuff. Please Read & Review!**


	2. Alerted!

**Wow, I remembered this fic. Anyways, time for chapter 2.**

**Alerted!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the main antagonist in this fic. Oh, and the plot. **

The 7 spirits appeared on a literal mountain of sand. Well, that's technically not true. They were actually above a literal mountain of sand. But they didn't have any time to process that before they plummeted down onto the sand.

"Urahara, you bastard" spat Renji. "Oh well. Where are we?"

It was a good question. Once they brushed off the sand and stood up, they saw absolutely nothing except sand and sky. Since nobody bothered to give them directions, they were lost. Channelling Yachiru, Kenpachi pointed in a random direction and yelled, "Its that way. Definitely!"

So they went that way. They talked, and wondered, and did some other stuff nobody cares about. Unbeknownst to them, they were actually heading in the correct direction. Even as they spoke, sentinels were sent to kill them all. As they approached, Uryu had a sudden flash of intelligence.

"It's Aizen! He must have created these Hollows!"

"Huh? How'd you guess that?" Ikkaku asked.

"Renji", the Quincy boy said, "do you remember that Arrancar scientist we fought last time? Syel or something? He didn't have a hole either!"

"Shit, you're right! Was he one of these things?", Renji questioned.

"Don't know for sure. He didn't release that energy when he died. But I DID hit him with Quincy arrows, so maybe he lost the energy beforehand."

As they all tried to form their own opinions on this, Nel interrupted with an urgent yell:

"Hollowth! Der Hollowth 'tacking!"

Sure enough, hollows were approaching. They lacked the holes that showed their lack of a heart, but they were still hollows. Still, they seemed unnatural, like plastic soldiers with paper hearts desperately pretending to be real. Renji was right, these weren't hollows: these were just "things."

The Bezerker of Zaraki District was naturally the first to attack. As he cut down hollow after hollow, the others got into formation. Ironically, Ichigo wouldn't be doing much fighting. Because he was the strongest, the makeshift unit wanted his to save his energy for later. So instead of going Kenpachi on everyone, the deputy Soul Reaper protected the 2 non-combatants: Uryu and Neliel. Uryu was destroying the stuff coming out of the hollows, and Nel was watching. Everyone else was fighting.

Ikkaku grinned maniacally as he slashed at a large hollow with his _shikai._ As another grabbed the tip, he yelled "Split", separating the naginata into 3 parts. He twisted the part he was holding and bashed it into the hollow's head. He turned to fight the first hollow, but Chad had already destroyed it.

"Damn it, stop killing my hollows!" the disgruntled fighter growled after Uryu shot the next one the staff touched. He stabbed another one right where the hole should have been, and his captain decapitated it.

"Come on Ikkaku, stop being so lazy", Zaraki grinned. "I thought you liked fighting. So fight instead of just standing there!"

"That's it! The next one is MINE! Nobody touch it.", the bald one said.

Then the Menos appeared.

"It's all yours", Chad said.

* * *

"Interesting", a cloaked figure not too far away grinned. He, in his cave of glass, had done all this. As he looked down on the scene through a window/garganta he used for spying. He'd been using it ever since he had been exiled, just 84 years ago.

No, this wasn't Aizen. This man was Gaijuta Nakano (中野骸 呪太), the first and only Soul Reaper with a completely immaterial zanpakutō. He wanted to be King, but he didn't make a pact with lowly hollows like Aizen had. No, he was **master** of the thousands of hollows that made up his army.

Soul Society was his. "No, I am wrong there", he decided, "It **will **be mine. I shall **_make_** it mine".

**And that's the end of that chapter. Sorry for making these so short. I'm just impatient to get to the climax. Actually, writing like this has sort of degraded my memory of the climax, so it might have been variably better than what I will write. Wait, what did I just say?**

**Please review, nobody has yet! Although someone did on my other story…does that mean that people are ashamed to write reviews for this? DO NOT WANT?**

**Alright, I'm done. Review please, so I can get motivated and write a 3****rd**** chapter!**


	3. They Call It A Menos

**Finally, I have 1 review for this fic! I said in certain channels that I would be using a deux ex machina to advance this slow-as-sloth fic-I've changed my mind. After deciding against a side arc, I realized that the climax isn't too far away! So don't worry: the fic shall go on! **

**They Call It A Menos**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the stuff not shown in the show. **

As the 3rd seat of Squad 11 stared down the Menos, he felt strangely relaxed.

"I've taken down loads of these", he reasoned, "No hole just means that there's more for me to hit."

With that thought in mind, Ikkaku rushed to kill the hollow. As it charged a _cero, _he jumped to its neck and decapitated it. Energy spewed out of the wound and reconnected the head long enough for it to regenerate. Obviously, this hollow wasn't average. Undaunted, he split his staff and used it like a whip, spinning it around and causing quite a bit of damage.

"Its no use!" his Captain yelled, "It's a Gillian, but that crap inside of it makes it an adjuchas-class threat!"

"Go on without me! We're wasting time!"

As the group scarpered, Zaraki wondered whether his admirer had a chance. If a Gillian was a level higher than usual, and it called reinforcements...But they couldn't help. Because those hollows were being controlled, only Quincy arrows would have any effect. And they were forbidden to have Uryu engage in combat with any Menos-class hollow.

_(Flashback)_

"_Then why is he even coming? There's no point in a warrior who can't kill."_

"_Silence, Zaraki! The orders have been given by the Commander-General and cannot be overturned." The speaker was a high-ranked Soul Reaper in the Special Forces 1__st __division, who went by the name "Trick." Being part of the Executive Militia, he was supposed to have accompanied Ichigo's ad-hoc squad into Hueco Mundo. But with the abundance of Captain-class warriors taking the trip and the destruction of the stable Garganta after the last venture into the hollow's realm, Soul Society decided that he would be backup. He, along with another, would be sent in an emergency._

"_Do you not remember the Quincy scourge? When they strike, they destroy souls. It puts the balance of life and death in disarray. One or two is acceptable. The hundreds, no thousands that make up Menos is unacceptable. The boy is only going because of his power to destroy the power manipulating these hollows. And once R&D completes Project Zarathos, he will be...disposed of. A Quincy is too dangerous to keep alive."_

"_What?" Kenpachi yelled furiously. "We're going to just use him? Don't you have any honor in that soulless wreck you call a body? If you want to kill him, at least make it an execution!"_

"_That might be considered...if he behaves. So keep him under control."_

"_What'd he ever do t'you?"_

_Trick wavered for a minute before saying "You may not believe this, but I don't like what I do. There is talk of training the boy after his execution, to make him a Soul Reaper. He has the potential." The ninja-masked sentinel wisely chose to conceal the fact that Uryu's soul was probably going to be used to advance Project Zarathos. Deception came easily to him, as did a neutral demeanor. For a previously battle-happy soldier, his lack of emotion nowadays was disturbing._

"_Go, find the threat. You can argue later, Captain of the 11__th __Division, Kenpachi Zaraki." As the man disappeared by use of flash steps, the disgruntled Captain felt an urge of rebellion. Even if it was just to spite the Covert Ops, the Quincy would survive._

So Uryu wouldn't be doing any heavy damage today. But, thanks to testimony from the battle with Thunderwitch, Uryu was authorized to kill Arrancar, as they were considered too dangerous to survive. Unluckily for him, there wouldn't be any arrancar where they were going.

"Bring it!" yelled Ikkaku. "Bankai!"

The Menos, along with the other 2 approaching slowly, watched as the man's split-staff changed. He grabbed two of the separated pieces of wood, which promptly grew and gained giant blades on their tips. The first weapon is commonly known as a Monk's Spade, and can be used peacefully and nonviolently. Of course, this is Ikkaku we're talking about, so that's never going to happen. The second blade was a Chinese Dadao, which was meant for use by violent morons. Perfect for Ikkaku, as the spirit of his zanpakuto had once said.

The weapons were connected by chains to what can only be described as a cross between a giant halberd blade and an axehead. The crest of a dragon was imprinted on one side, and the final piece of the original _shikai_ was the handle on the blunt end of the blade. The tip of the dragon's snout was red. By the time he was done, the whole thing would be blood-red.

"Bring it, you soul-eating surrender monkeys!", Madarame roared, holding a weapon in each hand and letting the sharp piece of connecting metal trail behind him. He flew up to the first Gillian's face and slashed the hell out of it. As it tried to regenerate, he kept on purifying the Hollow with his giant weapons. You can't regenerate from nothing, and soon only the mysterious energy was left. As it tried to move away, Ikkaku slashed it. Surprisingly, it felt familiar.

"_I remember! This is like cutting, what's it called? Cero, that's it! It's like that, but it's not flowing like that. That means...this is spirit energy? But there's something controlling it. Like..."_

"_A zanpakuto?"_

"_Hozukimaru? Heh, you finally woke up."_

"_Shut it. I'm serious, I can feel a zanpakuto spirit in this energy."_

"_So its controlling the energy?"_

"_No, it **is **the energy"_

"_Impossi-"_

He was cut from his dialogue by the approach of the second Gillian. This one had apparently achieved free will, as it had a unique mask. It also had a special ability, as Ikkaku had just felt. The energy within it was rising, then falling, then rising higher. It signified the building of a blast. But this one was different. It built the energy in the core of the hollow, then suppressed it until the pressure was impossible to contain. It was a textbook move called a "suicide bomb", and only minor hollows used it. But this one had the ability, and it had much more spiritual pressure than a minor hollow. Ikkaku quickly flicked his wrists, putting the dangling chains into his hands. He then swung the crested blade above his head and slammed his fists downwards, hoping to use the blade as a shield. Just as it started to fall, the Gillian self-destructed, sending a shockwave of spiritual energy in all directions.

"Mothe-" yelled Ikkaku, but he didn't have time to finish his expletive. The blast sent a shockwave powerful enough to destroy the average hollow across a large stretch of Hueco Mundo. Even the Arrancar, in the large Las Noches palace, could sense the blast, and they knew that it wasn't your normal hollow attack.

Ichigo's group felt the blast. It was so powerful that, even at their distance from the blast, Ichigo still had to shield Nel from the shockwave. They knew almost nothing would have survived that at close range, and they just hoped that Ikkaku had gotten away in time.**

* * *

Man, that was one heck of a blast. We know Ikkaku was there, but he may have survived. Or he may have not. Don't you just hate those ambiguous deaths? Anyways, we're almost at the level end boss...I mean Gaijuta. Although he is not in any way turned on by Ichigo (sorry Trick), he does have have one heck of a backstory. Which I'll have to slap somewhere in Chapter 5. Speaking of which, did you notice that my first two chapters had a sum total of exactly 1,500 words? Pretty low for me. Now that I'm writing the way I usually do, this _chapter_ has over 1,500 words in it, 1565, to be precise. And it's only going up from here!**

**Just a side note: Trick isn't a Gary Stu, nor is he even my character. He's just making a cameo here (actually, I've extended him to supporting character status. He'll probably come back in the sequel.) Depending on when the RL Trick gives me a bio, he should make another appearance somewhere in the climax. Considering my horrible updating speed though, he'll probably give me the info before I finish chapter 4. Heh, but summer's approaching, and with it comes more time for me to curl up in a dark closet and update (I hope to be done this before August and finish the sequel this year.) **

**Well, I'm off to write chapter 4. See that review thing to your right? Yeah, press "Go" and leave me a comment or fifty. Please?**


	4. Gaijuta Revealed!

**Well, that wasn't too long of a wait. Luckily for everyone, summer, also known as FanFiction Updating Season, is coming up quickly. Now, you might think this chapter will follow either Ikkaku or Trick, but guess again! Ikkaku won't be mentioned for a while, and do you really want a chapter dedicated to Trick's backstory? Wait, yes? Okay then, but it won't be here. We're too close to the climax to randomly cut to filler (that's right Tite Kubo, some people don't like to randomly go to backstory/filler in the middle of a climactic battle in Hueco Mundo!)**

**(Here be spoilers!) If you're reading this in the far future, I should explain that Bleach is going through some giant, unexplained filler in the anime (they literally cut out of Hueco Mundo and go off into an unexplained adventure.) The manga also did a random jump, but at least it's backstory instead of filler. Still, they go from an incredibly awesome scene where the Captains all went to either help Ichigo's group or defend Karakura Town in Soul Society from the awesome forces of Aizen. Ichigo literally flies off to fight a bad-ass Ulquiorra, who just received complete reign of Las Noches and almost literally says "Bring it, Kurosaki Ichigo!" Immediately, they cut to the "Turn back the Pendulum" mini-series, which started at -108: Turn Back The Pendulum and is currently at -99: Turn Back The Pendulum 10 (yeah, the decided to change the official manga release numbers for some reason: the last normal one was 315: March Of The Death; so this technically should be 325: Turn Back The Pendulum). The series reveals a _lot _of backstory and explains how the Vizards and Kisuke came to exist, but I feel that it could have come in before or after this incredible climax. (Arr! The spoilers be dead now!)**

**Okay, that's enough from me: off to the chapter!**

**Gaijuta Revealed**

**Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Everything belongs to the FBI and the JNPA, but Tite Kubo claims to own Bleach. **

No time to stop. They just had to keep on moving. Ikkaku was fine. He had to be. They just kept on moving. But something was strange. Several times when they stopped to rest, Chad noticed that Uryu was staring at the sand around them, as though he knew something the others didn't. After a while, he decided to say something.

"You know something. Something we don't."

The group all stared at the giant. Was he serious? The Quincy boy hadn't said anything. Yet the one to break the silence was Uryu himself.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure why we don't feel a massive spiritual pressure. I know why we can't find-"

In an instant, Ichigo was on him, fist in the air, ready to pummel him into the sand. But the others held him back, allowing Uryu to explain.

"The hideout is made of soul-synthesized glass. I've been seeing bits of it scattered around here, and it can't be a coincidence."

You probably don't know how soul-synthesized glass is created, so now would be a good time to explain. You see, the sand in Hueco Mundo is really comprised of _reishi_, spiritual energy, just like Soul Society. This sand is, as you can imagine, chock full of power. But only incredibly powerful things, like Quincy Final Form or certain bankai have the power to disintegrate spiritual matter. However, that doesn't mean that the sand is useless to humans. You see, spiritual sand behaves like normal sand. Heat it up enough, and you get glass. A while back, certain Germanic pagans had figured out the method to trap souls in the human realm without their becoming Hollows. Although I don't want others copying them, I will say that it involved capturing the soul in water and pouring the water into a jar of sand. Well, even though glassblowing is ancient and adding reishi is just as ancient, the advent of Christianity and forges made the pagan soul jars nothing more than jars of high-quality sand. When the sand was melted, the combination of souls and accumulated spirit particles made it as workable as steel. And so, soul-synthesized glass was created. Of course, sand from Hueco Mundo results in much better glass, and modern forges put the old ones to shame. But using souls like that is unethical, and it's obviously never done nowadays.

That was essentially what Uryu told the group, although it was much longer. It killed a lot of time while they walked towards their destination (now they actually knew where to go: they went in the direction that the Menos came from). Finally, he finished and Renji had only one question.

"That was interesting, but why didn't you tell us that a long time ago?"

I didn't know whether it was natural or not. Besides, I assumed that you Soul Reapers knew about it."

Renji was about to press the boy further, but realized why Uryu had held out on them. Soul-synthesized glass was a Quincy invention, evidence of why Quincies had to be destroyed. It was obvious that the last Quincy would use it, and that wasn't good. He was barely off the "kill with extreme prejudice" list, and that would put him right back on. For his sake, everyone stopped questioning him.

But now they knew how to find the source. Expending reishi every few steps to sense the bits of glass, they soon felt the presence of a giant construct seemingly without spiritual energy. Usually, that was normal. But here in Hueco Mundo, where everything, even the inhabitants, were comprised of spiritual energy or souls, it seemed fishy.

The group ran up a mound of sand not unlike the one they had crash-landed on and looked down. Opening a trapdoor, Ichigo led everyone inside a hidden passage, walking down a spiraling staircase inside the hill. Reaching the bottom, they walked into a large antechamber lit by some form of artificial lighting.

"Which way do we go?", Kenpachi asked. He turned to the weight on his shoulder, but it wasn't Yachiru. It was Nel, because Zaraki had volunteered to carry her up the hill. He missed Yachiru. But, as he was about to learn, it was probably better that she had stayed behind.

"Go? Nowhere really. Not until you've been disposed of, at least."

The group turned to see who had spoken. Opening one of the glass doors was a man in his mid-30s. Or at least that's what he looked like: Renji placed a guess at around 116, not including time on Earth. The man was clad in the standard Soul Reaper shihakusho, withthe character for "death" slashed on the back of his black kimono. His dark red hair was worn as a mullet with the back grown to waist length. His face looked similar to Byakuya's, but older and hardened rather than royal. He also lacked a zanpakuto, and had a rather thin frame for a reaper.

"My name is Gaijuta Nakano, former second seat of the 4th division. Do you want to fight, or shall I tell you my life story first?"

Ichigo chose the latter option, yelling "Bankai" and leaping at Gaijuta. The rogue smirked and, in a scene straight out of Dragonball Z, fired a cero from his palm at Ichigo. Our deputy Soul Reaper rushed right at the attack and let it hit him as he went to kill his target. As he slashed with Zangetsu, Gaijuta blinked, and a barrier was formed between them.

"_What the-", _Ichigo thought as his attack slid harmlessly off the barrier.

"Hmmm, maybe you should have asked for my life story. You would have at the very least learned what I could do" said the man. As he spoke, a few hollows ranging from 5 to 9 feet tall stepped out of the door behind Gaijuta.

"That one" he said, pointing to one of the hollows, "releases cero energy into the air around another hollow. That hollow can then generate ceros using the energy like a Quincy would. I may not be a hollow, but it works fairly well for me." He gestured to another, saying "And that one makes barriers. I like keeping a few unique hollows around to help me out. Of course, I also like having cannon fodder around." He waved his hand, and most of the hollows attacked, a select few staying with Gaijuta. While Ichigo rushed through the now-lowered barrier, the remaining 4 fighters got ready.

The fight was on.

* * *

A few kilometers away, a garganta opened. Two Soul Reapers stepped out, although they didn't look like your average psychopomps. One looked strangely like a ninja wearing shades, while the other looked like he really didn't want to be there. The latter one seemed like a new recruit, a very shy and easily-embarrassed guy. The other one was the complete opposite. He wouldn't be embarrassed if he walked into a women's restroom completely naked and pictures were taken. He might kill everyone in the room, but it wouldn't be from embarrassment. He seemed bored, while the inexperienced one looked around nervously.

"Um, Mister Trick" the boy asked nervously, "I think we came a bit too close to Hollow territory." Surely enough, a hollow was coming to attack them, with several others following. The one called Trick, however, didn't seem to be frightened. On the contrary, he looked like there wasn't a thing in sight. He irritatedly spoke to the hollows:

"What the hell are all of you looking at?" When they didn't respond, he gripped the hilt of his concealed zanpakuto and whispered "Tsuriai, Tsuin Akuma." The hidden blade warped and split, becoming a pair of tonfas. One was jet black with a smiling white demon face and the other pure white with a frowning black demon face. This was strange in itself, as only 2 separate-weapon zanpakuto were known to currently exist, and Trick's wasn't one of those. As the hollows closed on the pair, he raised the white one and, in the voice of a straightforward businessman, said "Genwaku Segna!"

The reapers and the hollows were bathed in blinding light. Well, blinding for everyone except Trick. Suddenly, wearing sunglasses at night didn't seem weird, as the second reaper noted. As the light dissipated, it seemed as though nothing had happened. But the hollows started collapsing, one by one, as they succumbed to the slash wounds they didn't even know they had. As the wayward souls disappeared and went off to Soul Society, the pair was surrounded witha sort of reverse spiritual rain, glowing with the leftover light from Tsuin Akuma's attack. As the meek reaper looked at the spectacle in amazement, the other one called out to him.

"Hanataro, hurry up, or I'll leave you behind."

Hanataro rushed to Trick and put a hand on him. The man crossed his tonfas and the zanpakuto pair concealed the two from sight. They then completely disappeared, rushing with flash steps towards the battle where they were needed.

**Arrgh, the last 4 paragraphs aren't working out the way I want them to. Maybe I'm just being hypocritical. If you're wondering why Uryu is being called the last Quincy, no, it's not advertisement for the similar "The Last Mimzy." It's because that's the title he uses when introducing himself to Soul Reapers. They don't know about his father, who also calls himself the last Quincy, so they think Uryu is one-of-a-kind. **

**Well, I used some Romanji in this chapter, so I'll just put the translations down here. That way, it doesn't break up the flow of the story.**

**Tsuin Akuma: Twin Demon. Name courtesy of Trick.**

**Tsurai: Balance. Makes sense, doesn't it?**

**Genwaku Segna: Blinding Justice. Not related to Shining Finger. The attack encompasses the user and his/her opponents and strikes them with some kind of slashing force. There aren't many survivors, so the nature of the damage is unknown.**

**Shihakusho: Dead Soul Garment. I think Viz translated it as "Soul Reaper Uniform", and that's pretty much what it is. A kimono, an undershirt, a hakama and an obi sash. Nothing special, but the Arrancar and Ichigo's inner hollow wear inverted shihakusho, so Dead Soul Garment's a better translation in my eyes.**

**Gaijuta Nakano: Wouldn't you like to know? I'll give a few cameos to the first person to tell me the true meaning of his name (hint: those characters aren't supposed to be used in names, but they might be added to the allowed kanji list in the near future.) The contest ends when I post Chapter 5.**

**If you're wondering where the heck Rangiku is (I only mentioned her once in the first chapter), she's masquerading as a relative of Orihime's. Because the real Orihime is hidden in Tessai's closet, they're using a gigai with Ririn in it (an "unidentified modsoul" if you consider this as part of the manga) to draw out Aizen. I was going to make that a side-story but I needed to cut out the filler or I would've stopped writing this by chapter 2.**

**Yes, I was supposed to put this up on Friday. I just forgot to describe Gaijuta, so there! Well, I'm a day behind schedule, so I had better start on that promised climax.**


End file.
